By Sarah Zimmerman
From carpet seaming and tile spacers to laser measures and waterproofing systems, installation advancements ran the gamut at Surfaces providing attendees with a plethora of products to answer almost any problem in all segments. Here are just a few interesting innovations hitting the market.
Mortar made easy
TEC’s main floor booth was packed not only with people, but also with products. Its biggest introduction this year is a full line of lightweight mortars. “The normal 50-pound bags are no more,” said Rachel Gibbons, director of marketing. TEC has developed a 25-pound bag that provides the same coverage and performance as traditional mortars with several added benefits—less heavy lifting, less bulk in inventory or on work trucks and possible fuel reduction.
“We’ve made this new technology accessible for every application,” Gibbons noted. “The advantages are now availiable across the board.” She pointed out TEC’s lightweight mortars also offer easy trowel technology as they are part of an overall system mindset that impacts longevity and beauty offering such things as a lifetime warranty and no-crack policy. “We are focused on systems to protect the investment the customer has made,” Gibbons said.
Easy-Pull keeps tabs on tile
Quinten Sharp and Mitch Zusman became fed up with the time, tools and cost that coincided with tile spacing. Answer? Easy-Pull Tile Spacers. Instead of using a tile spacer remover tool to attempt to pry out traditional tile spacers, Easy-Pull comes complete with its own patented pull-tab for fast and easy removal. “No more chipped tile because of those spacer remover tools, and it takes a fraction of the time. We guarantee Easy-Pull will save both time and money,” they said.
Available in four sizes—1/16, 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch—insert Tile Spacers at corners with stems facing the same direction. When mortar is dry, pull out the tab. And the stems are flexible, so if you need to wipe the tile, you can, or if you’re stacking tile on a wall you can still put a level across, noted Sharp and Zusman.
Carpet ‘seams’ easy
KoolGlide carpet seaming system again gained attendee attention for its advancements to the 30-year-old hot-melt tape method. Using Sinch Technology, KoolGlide eliminates fumes, smoke, glue drips, carpet discoloration, burns and permanent seaming errors, noted Rob Ruthfuss, president and CEO.
Designed to seam carpet from the top, the tool never gets hot and activates the seamingtape from the bottom up using induction heating, a non-contact heating method which employs the physical concept of magnetic induction, Ruthfuss explained. “Once people realize what the product does, its capabilities sell itself.”
One-kit wonder
In conjunction with its 25th anniversary, NAC (National Applied Construction Products) introduced a “one-kit wonder” at Surfaces. The company’s BAS kit—a complete thin-bed membrane waterproofing system—is the latest addition to NAC’s family of crack isolation, waterproofing and sound abatement products.
The all-inclusive BAS kit cuts down on time, cost and storage, said Thomas Duve, president and CFO. It provides a waterproof/vapor barrier and is guaranteed to protect tile from cracking up to 3/8-inch lateral substrate movement. And, the self- dhesive installation allows for same-day installation and flood/water testing.
Laser lights up Surfaces
Laser Products Industries offers an array of measurement tools featuring laser technology. “For 10 years we’ve focused on providing lasers to help identify and provide the means to gather information on irregular job conditions and accurately correct them,” said Jim Hoffmann, sales engineer.
Some of the tools used to do this include: LT-55 Precision Laser Templator, LM-88 MOJOE, SL-24 Laser Square, GS- 28 Saw Laser and FR-16 Framing Square. “We sell a wide variety of lasers to suit all building, flooring and construction needs,” Hoffmann noted, pointing to the LM-88 as a homerun hitter.
“It is going to revolutionize the way that any carpet or tile estimator/installer works,” Hoffmann said. LM-88 allows installers to have a to-scale CAD drawing of the entire house within an hour. It also enables users to figure seams in multiple directions, saving as much scrap as possible.
